West Goshen moves to curb student housing

WEST GOSHEN — After watching student housing swell in parts of West Chester, supervisors in West Goshen took action Wednesday to curb future development of student homes in the township.

The five-member board unanimously passed amendments to the township’s zoning ordinance at its monthly meeting Wednesday evening, easing concerns of residents, who applauded the supervisors’ action.

“I want to commend the board for taking this on tonight,” said Brian Sundermeir, a township resident. “This is a very important matter and the fact you are going through this tonight and trying to make revisions to the ordinance to prevent this becoming a widespread issue, I want to thank you.”

Changes to the ordinance were made after residents near the Roslyn neighborhood area south of Rosedale Avenue were noticing a number of single-family homes being bought and converted into residences for students.

At the May supervisors meeting, township officials and residents discussed in detail the potential negative impact those homes could have on the neighborhood and township.

“I think everybody can agree that preserving the integrity of our communities is what’s important,” Supervisor Ted Murphy said in May.

The amended ordinance states: “The Board of Supervisors of West Goshen Township finds that the proliferation of student homes in the residential zoning districts of West Goshen Township will be highly detrimental to the public health, safety and welfare of West Goshen Township and will result in numerous public nuisances such as excessive noise; the accumulation of trash and litter; undue concentration of population; traffic congestion; unauthorized and illegal parking; lack of off-street and on-street parking for non-transient residents; public lewdness, and a decline in the aesthetics of residential properties due to lack of continual maintenance and upkeep of the residential dwellings where students reside.”

Prior to the ordinance being passed, the township had no definition of a student home in its zoning ordinance.

The township is legally obligated to provide an opportunity for all uses somewhere in the township.

In an effort to provide quick relief, the township looked to adopt a student home ordinance similar to that passed by Lower Merion, and later the Borough of West Chester, which has held up to challenges in court.

The amended ordinance changes the definition of family living in a home to allowing no more than four unrelated individuals to live together. The ordinance also adds detail to the definition of a student and creates a definition for a student home.

A student home is defined basically as a maximum of four students living in a space together with a minimum of 1,000 square feet. A student is someone attending a school with a minimum of six credit hours whose primary occupation is a student.

“West Goshen is catching this much sooner than West Chester did,” Camp said in May. “It’s going to have an impact on the longtime residents.”

Previously unregulated, under the amended ordinance a student home will only be allowed in the township’s areas zoned R-4, residential areas that account for small pockets of land within the township primarily located near town center. Near the university, the only area zoned R-4 is the existing site of Cambridge Apartments.

The residents who were concerned with the increased student home activity were all in areas zoned R-3.

Specifically, residents were concerned with a home in the 800 block of Spruce Avenue. In the early discussions, it became clear the owner was interested in using the property as a student home.

Properties in the township that already serve as a student home will be grandfathered in and can maintain their use regardless of zoning designation.

The properties eligible to be grandfathered are those that served as a student home before May 15, the day the ordinance was first advertised for a public hearing under the pending ordinance doctrine.

According to supervisors, the home on Spruce Avenue was not occupied by students as of May 15 and cannot be used as a student home.

“I think it’s important for everybody to understand that what we have done is we have provided an area in the township R-4 that would allow student homes and at that point we’ve stopped what was beginning to occur in R-3 with regards to conversions to student housing and potential conversions of those who live next to you,” supervisors’ Chairman Ray Halvorsen said.

Since the township does not currently have an updated list of properties already being used as student homes, owners will need to register that use with the township.

Owners wishing to designate their properties student homes must be approved by the zoning hearing board and the property must be zoned R-4.

As the homes are registered and homes change owners, officials asked residents to be their eyes in the neighborhoods for possible violations to the ordinance.